The Tinder Swindler True Story: The Real LLD Diamonds Explained
Netflix's recently released The Tinder Swindler shed some light on Simon Leviev's tactics as a conman who acted as the heir to the billion-dollar company LLD Diamonds, however, one of the questions in the audience's mind was whether the company truly exists. The company and its founder Lev Leviev found themselves to be at the center of a very serious story involving online fraud, which started when an Israeli conman Shimon Hayut changed his legal name to Simon Leviev in 2017, at a time when he was fleeing Israel to avoid being sentenced for fraud. Despite being known for his exploits during his time posing as Simon Leviev, Shimon has been facing charges of fraud and theft long before that, since his first arrest had been in 2011.
The true story of the Tinder Swindler Shimon Hayut began with him traveling around Europe after his escape from Israel in 2017 while making a new persona for himself on Tinder as Simon Leviev, the son, and heir to the Russian-Israeli businessman Lev Leviev, also known as the 'King of Diamonds'. Through this persona, he was able to gain the trust of many women who he met using Tinder. With the money that had reportedly been obtained through previous cons, he treated these women to lavish and expensive hotel trips for several months, shortly before he started manipulating them to send him money. As shown in The Tinder Swindler, the scheme worked mostly because he had given the women fake trust that he would be able to repay them while also presenting a fake threat to his life that elevated the urgency for them to send the money. The women, including Cecilie Fjellhoy have since started a GoFundMe page to tackle the debt that they now have to address.
Despite the nature of the scam, Hayut used businesses and people that do indeed exist in the real world, namely LLD Diamonds and its founder, Lev Leviev. With its headquarters set up in New York, the company is one of the most prominent names in the diamond manufacturing industry that, now, has its name inevitably linked to The Tinder Swindler. The company has been running for 26 years and, at this point, remains to be the only diamond firm that controls all parts of the diamond pipeline.
At its head lies Lev Leviev, the 'King of Diamonds' himself, who first started out in the industry as an apprentice at a diamond polishing plant, when his family moved out to Israel in the 1970s. Since then, his name and influence have grown extensively which was exactly why Hayut had chosen to pose as his heir, like during the timeline of The Tinder Swindler. As for Leviev's actual children, he allegedly has nine children and, despite there being a certain air of mystery around the exact number, LLD Diamonds has confirmed that Shimon Hayut's claims are invalid. Lev Leviev hasn't made any comments on the controversy so far.
On the other hand, a spokesman from LLD Diamonds also confirmed on 2nd February that Shimon Hayut had nothing to do with the company, while also expressing his sympathies for the victims that had presented their case on The Tinder Swindler. The company acknowledged the fact that Hayut's crimes had caused "ongoing confusion" about the company but affirmed that Hayut was a fraud who used the company's name to con victims out of millions of dollars and that nothing he said about LLD should be believed. As of right now, the company has filed a complaint with the Israeli police and they hope that Hayut will face the justice he deserves for his crimes, despite Hayut promising his own take on events.
Regardless, "Simon Leviev" lives as a free man today, despite leaving at least the three women shown in The Tinder Swindler to deal with thousands of dollars in debt. Although he was arrested by Interpol and Israel Police in Greece, he only had to serve five months of his fifteen-month prison sentence before and spends his days in Israel living a lavish lifestyle with the estimated $10 million that he conned out of his victims. It's a bittersweet ending as Hayut never had to pay back the losses that his victims incurred as a result of his crimes, although they continue to make steady progress through contributions made towards their GoFundMe page.
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